Desk Duty
by Marten Voss
Summary: An office day in the Department of Accidental Magic Reversal takes an unexpected turn...


**Office days are weird sometimes...**

* * *

It was a slow day in the Department of Accidental Magic Reversal. Joe Hastings had been at the front desk since seven o'clock that morning, and nothing remotely exciting had happened in the hours since; unless one counted the memo that had zoomed into the office and dropped itself square into his coffee. Upon fishing out the dripping thing (which then proceeded to shake coffee all over him), Joe found an announcement for self-development training. He promptly crumpled it tossed it in the bin.

Three of the agents, Blackwell, Mims and Cornish, had been sent out on a house call around eight. Apparently, a young witch in Chislehurst had somehow managed to suspend gravity in a twenty meter radius around her house, which had affected the houses of three Muggle neighbors as well. Compared to some of the stories Mims told, this sounded like an easy job, but it was already a quarter to eleven, and the men still weren't back.

Joe rubbed his temples. He'd only been working in the department for two weeks, but he couldn't fathom how he'd even been so excited to start what was proving to be an inanely boring job. It was to be expected, of course; what else could summer internships at the Ministry be? Still, Joe wondered if he'd be able to wait the two more weeks until he'd start going out into the field with the full-time agents. Eternity seemed closer at the rate the day was going. Joe sighed, leaned back in the uncomfortable chair, closed his eyes, and began to doze.

The sound of approaching footsteps soon startled Joe out of his nap. At first, he thought it might be Blackwell and the others returning, but the steps were wrong. One stride was very long, and the other short and clacking, like high-heels. Joe thought he could make out whispered voices as well. Office calls were not unheard of in the DoAMR, but they were more common on heavy days when a squad member might not be available for a house call.

The footsteps stopped outside the door. The unintelligible whispered voices continued, and Joe stood up.

"Um, hullo?" he said. "Can I help you?"

Outside the door, a small, high-pitched voice hissed, "Go on."

Through the doorway, as if he'd been pushed, came a lanky young man with unruly orange hair. His eyes were bright yellow, and he shuffled somewhat awkwardly, tugging at the bottom of an oversized sweater that looked as though it had served as a moth nursery. He was followed by a short old woman dressed in vibrant blue and purple robes, who gripped him by the arm and dragged him over to the desk.

Joe, who'd only been able to stare, finally remembered himself and managed a confused smile.

"How can I help you?"

The woman pushed the orange-haired man at him.

"I need you to fix this cat."

Joe did a double take. "This man is-?"

"He is not a man," the woman said shrilly. "He is a cat! A very stupid cat who should be in an alley somewhere." She glared at the young man. "But no, he had to go and turn himself into a human, and now he won't stop eating my mice!"

The orange-haired man, who hadn't spoken a word, looked down at the old woman.

"But you have so many mice."

"What does that matter to you?" The woman snapped. "Anyway, they're not _your_ mice, they're_ my_ mice. And they are not for snacking!"

"Ma'am" Joe ventured, trying his best to remain amiable. "Do you know exactly what happened? Was it potion related?" He fumbled through a stack of forms. "Have you already tried changing him back yourself?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "If I knew how to change him back, I wouldn't be here, would I?"

"It's just standard procedure, ma'am."

The woman muttered something under her breath, then said, "Well, I suspect he ate something. Can you fix him or not?"

Joe gave her a calm smile. "Of course we can. May I ask your name, please?"

"Miss Aurelia Kane."

Joe wrote it down and added a few notes to the admittance form. "Alright, Miss Kane, I'll need to take this and go down that corridor to the second door on the left. There should be some chairs there. One of the agents will be with you shortly."

"Thank you." Aurelia Kane yanked the form from his hand with surprising strength, then grabbed the orange-haired man by the arm once again and pulled him away into the corridor. As they walked, the man said,

"I hope it doesn't hurt."

"Hmph," said Aurelia Kane. "That's what you get for eating strange things off of counter tops."

Joe watched the strange pair until they disappeared around the twisting corridor. He'd heard of people turning themselves into animals, but never animals turning themselves into humans. Well, that explained the yellow eyes.

Joe pointed his wand at the sign above the corridor, which illuminated blue for a moment before fading. Abbey or de Barra or Torres would see it on the sign in the agent's office. With that, Joe leaned back in the chair again and fished a packet of cheddar crisps out of his bag. It was eleven o'clock. Only four hours left to go.


End file.
